All shook up: Series resumes with some new names at the top
What a difference two weeks makes.
Heading into Round 7 in the 2017 Cocopah Speedway Racing Series, back on April 15, the race to the four track championships seemed to be settling into an all too familiar look.
But heading into tonight’s Round 8, the names have changed, but the game remains the same.
Or at least two names have changed. Yuma’s James Dupre and Yuma’s Jason Beshears, each of which have never won a driving championship, find themselves at the head of their respective divisions, being the hunted instead of the hunters.
Dupre, a veteran of the IMCA Sport Modified ranks, will hit the track tonight as the top driver in the series standings with a two-point edge over defending champion Adolfo Noriega, also from Yuma, in second place. Prior to the April 15 race date, Noriega, a four-time champion in the series, appeared to be on his way to a fifth crown. Beshears, meanwhile, was second in the IMCA Hobby Stock ranks before racing got under way two weeks ago, and now is the series leader having pulled ahead of Yuma’s Jim Robinson, the defending champion, by three points.
Tonight’s racing card will also feature the IMCA Modifieds and IMCA Stock Cars.
The first race begins at 7 p.m.
In the Modified ranks, Yuma’s Brett Simala continues to lead the field, but he is watching his advantage shrink. Entering the April 15 show Simala was 34 points ahead of Imperial’s Steven McCollough. But when the show was over, McCollough had trimmed six points off of Simala’s lead.
If that trend continues, McCollough could be within four points of Simala when the series breaks for the summer after the June 10 event.
The major difference here is McCollough has won a feature event and Simala has not, and McCollough has found a frontrunning groove while Simala has not.
In the Stock Car ranks, the division is evolving into a two-car race between Yuma’s Manny Baldiviez and Joe Haines, with Brawley’s Tommy Daffern and Imperial’s Joey Teague occasionally making things interesting.
The problem is those are pretty much the only cars, along with Yuma’s Henry Buijnorouski, remaining in the division, with a good portion of last year’s front runners having gone elsewhere.
But if it’s a tight, twocar battle for the win each time out that fans are looking for, this is the show to watch. Baldiviez, the twotime series champion, with three feature event wins so far in 2017, is finding that he has his hands full with Haines, who has one win and is looking stronger each time out.
At the finish of racing on April 15, Baldiviez had a 15 point lead over Haines, which is a pretty comfortable margin, considering even if Haines were to run the table and win every remaining feature event on the schedule (12), he would still come up three points short, assuming Baldiviez finished second each time out.
SPARE PARTS
Cocopah Speedway is located at U.S. 95 and County 15th Street; the general admission gate opens today at 5 p.m.; first race is at 7 p.m. Tickets are: adults (13 and older) – $12; adult military with ID – $10; senior (55 and over) – $10; children 12 years old and under – free (main grandstand); family pass (two adults, four children) – $35; Skybox – $25; pit pass – $35 (per person). Tickets can also be purchased online at www.cocopahspeedway.com or at Cocopah Wild River or at the main gate on race day. Fans can get live racing lineups during the races and results afterward by going to www.cocopahlive. com. Fans can also access live in-race scoring and lap times by going to mylaps. com. For more information call 344-1563 or go to www. cocopahspeedway.com.